Just who are you?
by Cryosmith
Summary: After a battle our courier Dante finds a kid alone and afraid he decides to take him under his wing
1. Chapter 1

"How do you intend to win this fight?!" Screamed the NCR lieutenant at Dante

"I don't" he replied with a grin "I just want to be the last one standing"

With that said he jumped over the slab of broken concrete he'd been using as cover sprinting towards the next bit of rubble providing a bit of cover sliding into place. As if on cue a legionnaire jumped over to slash at him with a machete. Falling backwards he pulled out a hatchet cleaving it into the mans thigh. Almost immediately the man started seizing up and frothing at the mouth with one last jerk he lay still.

Staring wide eyed at the dead man the lieutenant was hit in the throat "well there goes my reinforcements" Dante muttered as he grabbed a riot shotgun off his back.

Screaming bloody murder Dante charged sending 12 gauge slugs through legionnaires like a hot knife through butter. One veteran managed to get behind him but when he went in for the kill all he got was a hatchet in the throat. With all the legionnaires dead or retreating Dante started to loot the corpses finding nothing special except for a compass when he heard a noise he turned pulling a .45 out of his belt only to find a kid standing there no more than 8 with fear in his eyes and a switchblade in his hand

"Ge-get away" the kid said voice trembling.

Dante eyebrows raised asked "kid you got parents or someone that can take care of you?" The kid replied by trying to stab Dante but the blade old and rusted simply broke against his armor. Frowning he he said "now that wasn't very nice."

With his weapon broken the kid tried to run "hey!" Dante said grabbing the kid by the back of his shirt "do you have someone to take care of you?" He asked again

The kid finally answered "no the people you were just fighting killed them"

"Well then" Dante said "your coming with me" starting to drag the kid along with no matter how much he kicked or screamed


	2. Chapter 2

Dante started to make camp by starting to heal himself in other words pull all the bullets put himself. "Ah man fuck this shit" he muttered " hey kid can you set this tent for me? Oh and what's your name?"

"My name is Elijah" at the sound of the name Dante immediately stiffened and a far off look came to his eyes faintly showing a complete and utter felling of hate but just as quick it vanished and he was nervously rubbing the back of his neck apologizing saying he knew someone named Elijah that he absolutely hated.

"It no problem really" Dante was assured multiple times.

"I'm uh I'm just gonna call you Eli ok?" Dante spoke quietly

"Yeah... yeah that's fine"

Dante knew he was dreaming but that didn't make it any less tear jerking. He saw him with his friends Veronica,Cass,Boone

"but that was when they were your friends" a voice next to him spoke and low and behold Benny came sliding out of the inky blackness around him that flashed with pictures of days and friends past

"So" Dante muttered voice thick with emotion "is this payment for my sins then? SEEING THE PEOPLE I LOVED THE PEOPLE I CARED ABOUT THE PEOPLE I CANT BE WITH ANYMORE HUH IS IT? AM I CURSED TO DIE A LITTLE BIT EVERY NIGHT UNTIL IM NOTHING BUT AN EMPTY SHELL!?" Dante screamed and raved at Benny

"Alright jeeze" Benny said "what am I not wanted? Or is this you want to see me?" He mocked as his face shifted until it was clear that there was a hatchet buried in his neck and he started frothing at the mouth spittle flying everywhere he yelled at Dante " POISON REALLY, YOU? POISONS A COWARDS WEAPON, WELL THATS WHAT YOU ARE ARENT YOU HUH?! A WOMAN YOU LOVE BECOMES PREGNANT AND YOU RAN TO THE MOJAVE! YOUR FRIENDS WERE LEAVING YOU AND WHAT DID YOU DO?! YOU RAN TO THE MADRE! WHEN YOU CAME BACK AND FOUND THE ASHES OF FRIENDSHIPS YOU RAN TO ZION!" And on and on he went mocking Dante until he started to fall through the blackness underneath him looking Benny screamed one last thing " THAT KID COURIER THAT KID IS YOUR TICKET BACK TO THE WAY THINGS WERE... BACK TO YOUR FRIENDS"


	3. Chapter 3

Dante woke up in a cold sweat sitting up and looking around for a weapon or a drink his mind really couldn't decide. Getting out of his tent he looked towards the sun just peaking over the horizon rubbing his eyes he decided to make breakfast... And maybe some moonshine if he could find a fission battery.

2 hours later

"Rise and shine" Dante called softly trying to wake the small form beneath him. Shaking his shoulder Dante finally woke Eli bringing him out to a breakfast of gecko and potato soup (his own personal recipe no less).

"Alright here's what I'm thinking" Dante spoke before taking a swig of moonshine while also pulling out a map. "We head southwest of here and we hit hopeville I got a friend we can stay with next from there south to big MT then it's just through Zion and boom! We're in vegas."

"That's like a 3 month trip" Eli said.

"Yeah well if you want we can take a shortcut through legion territory" Dante spoke harshly but upon seeing the hurt look on the young kids face Dante immediately apologized "look kid I'm sorry I just... I didn't have a good night alright?"

Eli looked up afraid to see a mocking mask on the face his eyes met but instead found a man who looked scared at loosing someone... even someone he had only met days before " it's fine" Eli said quietly and with a smile the courier started to talk about vegas and the plans he had for Eli

"And then once we hit the strip I'll be able to get you a real nice roo"

But was cut short by Eli saying "do you hear that?"

Looking up like a wolf smelling prey Dante looked up and with out so much as a second passing he said laughing "oh holy shit I know what that sound is!"

"What!?" Eli whispered nervously despite the loud man beside him

"We are currently standing on a U.S. army bunker made to hold top tier people in the event of a nuclear war" He said with a crazy grin

"First of all how do you know? Second of all why are you so exited by that!?" Eli said gaping at the man as if he were insane which for all he knew could be.

"Well first of all I've encountered one almost exactly like this... Taste the sand it tastes the same as the one in the mojave. Second of all these things are fucking loaded with ammo,food,weapons and everything else some one needs to survive" he spoke looking around for an entrance.

"AHA!" He yelled " I found the entrance!" And with one last laugh he bounded down the stairs leaving behind a confused and somewhat annoyed Eli.

Many hours of searching later...

"HOLY FUCK TITS LOOK WHAT I FOUND!" Screamed Dante with a giant grin voice echoing throughout the almost empty bunker

"What? What is it?" Eli said excitedly sliding around a corner.

"I give to you!" Turning as he said it presenting his prize above his head "THE SPIN METAL!"

With an almost hesitant tone in his voice Eli asked slowly "What's that?"

"OH I'll TELL YOU WHAT IT IS!" He spoke loudly "THIS IS A HANDHELD MINIGUN THAT IS CHAMBERED FOR .50 CALIBER ROUNDS!" He shouted at the top of his lungs with glee at his new toy.

"... Did you drink all your moonshine?" Eli asked slowly

"Well maybe I did maybe I didn't..." Dante said looking accusingly at the kid "what's it to you?"

"Okay... then why don't you lay down for a few hours you look tired and I know I am" Eli lied hoping Dantes state of mind would leave him venerable to suggestion.

"Your right" Dante said suddenly yawning loudly "but I don't like sleeping I get nightmares" he spoke quietly with a certain mix of regret and sadness in his voice.

"Can you promise me I won't have nightmares tonight?" Dante said pleading in a very childlike manner

"I promise" Eli spoke softly thinking of his own nightmares... looking at the courier he then saw how childlike the courier was at heart but the wastes had almost beat it out of him... Almost. And with that Dante smiled and laid down on a couch in the next room and for once he did have a dreamless sleep

AUTHORS NOTE: Hi as you can all see Dante is... A bit weird when he's drunk but nonetheless it's better childLIKE than child beating anyways hope you enjoyed the chapter oh and the spin metal I came up with myself it's pretty much an assault rifle but with rotating barrels like a minigun so yeah if you can imagine that would be pretty badass right? So all in all have a good day and do review if you can


	4. Chapter 4

Eli groaned and turned over trying to fall back asleep but only succeeded in falling off the bed. Mumbling incoherently he noticed that a note had been taped to his face pulling it off revealed that it said "Hey kid had some business outside today so I'll be back tomorrow probably... Don't leave the bunker, don't let anyone in (I have a key) and most of all don't be a dumbass also if someone does manage to get in a left my .45 and two mags in the safe on wall of your room the code is 18-24-6.

"A day to myself?" He thought "might as well make the most of it" and promptly flopped down on his bed and went to sleep.

Dante however did not have such a nice morning. A bucket of water was splashed on his face and he sat there tied in a chair sputtering before being silenced by a silky smooth dangerous voice

"Hello Dante" Vulpes Inculta said "I take it you had a good nights sleep?"

Looking up Dante put on a smile and said with a laugh "Hey fox cunt how's baldy? Oh wait I put a hatchet in his head"

With a snarl Vulpes pulled out his ripper and held it against Dantes throat saying " How dare you insult the mighty Caesar!"

But Dante just laughed and laughed until Vulpes brought a hammer down on his kneecap but then Dante just looked up and said "if only you knew how fucked you are" and broke his binding with his bare hands

With a look of terror on his face Vulpes gulped audibly and asked "That was steel! How did you break that?!"

Rubbing his wrists Dante looked up smiled and simply said "Dr usanagi says hello" and then moved forward quicker than any normal human could and promptly shoved his thumbs through Vuples eyes and into his brain finishing off the rest of the legionnaires outside of the interrogation chamber and grabbing his stuff Dante steped outside onto the road and started walking east.

A couple hours later!

Dante walked through the door covered in now dry blood and brains. Sitting down he groaned attracting the attention of Eli in the other room which caused him to come racing in pistol in hand.

"Oh hey kid" Dante spoke non-chalantly as if this happened every day "legion captured me... I escaped"

"Is that your blood?!" Eli spoke quickly looking for a stimpack

"No it's legion" came the reply "couldn't tell by all the red?" Came the bad joke

"Let's get you cleaned up"

"Well I can't object to that!"

Three hours later

"Hey kid! Dinner time" the old courier yelled softly

"What is it?" Eli asked quite curious at the strange smell in the air

"Uhhh some MRE's" Dante said sheepishly

"That's fine"

And so they ate in silence until the courier finally said something "look kid vegas is... different that what your used to and it will take you time to adjust to a new place so I'm gonna tell you something that will hopefully make you feel better there"

"Okay lay it on me" Eli said curiously

"I'm not from the vegas area hell not even the west coast I'm from a vault on the east coast... vault 101 to be specific that's in Washington DC"

"That's it?" Eli said "I expected you to say something really crazy"

"Heh yeah people get that impression from me I don't know why. But if there's anything you want to know about my life before vegas well shoot I guess" Dante said quietly

"What was DC like?" Eli spoke wanting to learn more about the man in front of him

"Well" Dante spoke slowly "when I first left my vault... Hell on earth."

"What do you mean by that?"

"There was just ugh god I can't even describe some of the horrifying things I saw... But once I started helping out it became pretty nice not as nice as vegas but it was just home ya know? Oh! I have a great idea! One second..." And with a few turns of the knobs on his pip-boy a voice blasted out of the speakers

"HELLO CAPITAL WASTELAND ITS THREE DOG HERE BOW-WOW. Now some news ahem it's been confirmed that the BOS is moving into the Pitt yes children you heard me correctly the Pitt now you may ask yourselves this "three dog who in their right mind would voluntarily go to that god forsaken hell hole" well kiddies the Pitt has working steel mills and the brotherhood has armor that needs to be repaired and new suits made so they need that steel"

"That's three dog Dante said with a grin and then said "hey isn't there a radio room in this place?" And so running towards it he found GNR's signal and started transmitting

"Hey three dog" he spoke trying not to crack up "big fan here do you know who this is?"

After a few moments of silence three dog said "who the fuck are you?"

And Dante replied saying "The lone fucking wander 101 oorah!"

More silence and the three dog said "stop shitting me who are you?"

"Here I'll prove to you my real name is Patrick!"

"Holy shit 101 it is you where are you?!"

"Somewhere outside vegas"

"Damn kid Vegas? That's a long way from home"

"Yeah... I miss megaton"

"Come home kid" three dog said quietly with a surprising amount of tenderness in his voice

"I will soon I promise"

And with that he signed off and went to bed dreaming of a vault that would never welcome him back filled with people he still loved and of old retired raiders and dogs and of giant green men and for the first time in his life Dante wasn't sure where to go

AUTHORS NOTE:BOOM! alright so I'm accually not sure where to go with this story if you really like it I suggest you leave a review saying if you want DC or vegas if there are no reviews well then I will flip a coin or something Adios motherfuckers!


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